Playa del Carmen bull sharks

Why do bull sharks come to Playa del Carmen?

The Playa del Carmen bull sharks have been studied for years by the biologists of Pelagios Kakunja, with acoustic and satellite tags, hormone tests and underwater ultrasounds. The picture that emerges is a gathering of adult females, which come to spend the winter on these shallow sands when the water cools, some of them pregnant, before heading back to their pupping grounds. A photo catalog kept with the dive centers recognizes individuals from one season to the next. The Saving Our Sharks association, funded by a share of every dive, and the bull shark festival held every year in Playa have made these animals a local cause: fishermen, dive centers and authorities work together so that the sharks remain a living resource rather than a catch.

Should you choose a baited or unbaited bull shark dive?

Two approaches coexist in Playa. The baited dive is static, at 24 meters: divers kneel in a line, the guide opens a box of fish, and the sharks come within one or two meters for the whole dive. The unbaited dive is a gentle drift at 18 meters, over the same sand: the sharks pass farther away and for less time, and four or five encounters in a dive is a good day, but you are watching their natural behavior. Our take: if it is your first bull shark, the unbaited version is enough to understand the animal; if you are coming for photos, the baited version is the only one that brings them close. Either way, the rule is the same: you do not move, you do not reach out, and you go up when the guide decides.

What should you know about bull sharks before diving Playa del Carmen?

Carcharhinus leucas is a stocky shark, gray above and white below, with a short, broad snout that earns it its name. Females average 2.40 meters and 130 kg, and the largest exceed 3 meters. It is the only large shark that lives as comfortably in fresh water as in the sea, and it has been found thousands of kilometers up the Amazon and the Mississippi. Pound for pound, its jaw is the most powerful measured in any shark, and it is one of the three species most often involved in accidents with swimmers, in murky, shallow water. The IUCN lists it as Vulnerable. For a diver kneeling still on the Playa sand, at 24 meters, in clear water, the encounter is calm: the females circle, watch and move off. The danger is not in the dive but in how it is done, which is why the dive centers' rules of conduct are not up for debate.